Managing Filters

You can use Filters to configure advanced filtering rules for an account. Filters can automatically add or remove labels or forward emails to verified aliases based on the attributes or content of the incoming message.

For information on how to create , list , get , or delete filters, see the Filters reference .

Matching criteria

You can filter messages by properties such as the sender, subject date, size, and message contents. Any query using Gmail's advanced search syntax can also be used in a filter. For example, common filter patterns include:

Filter	Matches
`criteria.from='sender@example.com'`	All emails from `sender@example.com`
`criteria.size=10485760` `criteria.sizeComparison='larger'`	All emails larger than 10MB
`criteria.hasAttachment=true`	All emails with an attachment
`criteria.subject='[People with Pets]'`	All emails with the string `[People with Pets]` in the subject
`criteria.query='"my important project"'`	All emails containing the string `my important project`
`criteria.negatedQuery='"secret knock"'`	All emails that do not contain the string `secret knock`

If multiple criteria are present in a filter, a message must satisfy all criteria for the filter to apply.

Actions

You can apply an action to messages matching the filter criteria. Messages may be forwarded to a verified email address, or have labels added or removed.

You can add or remove labels to change the disposition of the email. For example, some common actions include:

Action	Effect
`action.removeLabelIds=['INBOX']`	Archive the email (skip the inbox)
`action.removeLabelIds=['UNREAD']`	Mark as read
`action.removeLabelIds=['SPAM']`	Never mark as spam
`action.removeLabelIds=['IMPORTANT']`	Never mark as important
`action.addLabelIds=['IMPORTANT']`	Mark as important
`action.addLabelIds=['TRASH']`	Delete the email
`action.addLabelIds=['STARRED']`	Mark as starred
`action.addLabelIds=['<user label id>']`	Tag the mail with a user-defined label. Only one user-defined label is allowed per filter.

Examples

The following is a more complete example showing how to label and archive messages from a mailing list.

Java

gmail/snippets/src/main/java/CreateFilter.java

View on GitHub

 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonError 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonResponseException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.Gmail 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.GmailScopes 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.Filter 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.FilterAction 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.FilterCriteria 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.io.IOException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.Arrays 
 ; 
 /* Class to demonstrate the use of Gmail Create Filter API */ 
 public 
  
 class 
 CreateFilter 
  
 { 
  
 /** 
 * Create a new filter. 
 * 
 * @param labelId - ID of the user label to add 
 * @return the created filter id, {@code null} otherwise. 
 * @throws IOException - if service account credentials file not found. 
 */ 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 String 
  
 createNewFilter 
 ( 
 String 
  
 labelId 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
  
 { 
  
 /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for 
 guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */ 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
  
 credentials 
  
 = 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
 . 
 getApplicationDefault 
 () 
  
 . 
 createScoped 
 ( 
 GmailScopes 
 . 
 GMAIL_SETTINGS_BASIC 
 , 
  
 GmailScopes 
 . 
 GMAIL_LABELS 
 ); 
  
 HttpRequestInitializer 
  
 requestInitializer 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 HttpCredentialsAdapter 
 ( 
 credentials 
 ); 
  
 // Create the gmail API client 
  
 Gmail 
  
 service 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Gmail 
 . 
 Builder 
 ( 
 new 
  
 NetHttpTransport 
 (), 
  
 GsonFactory 
 . 
 getDefaultInstance 
 (), 
  
 requestInitializer 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setApplicationName 
 ( 
 "Gmail samples" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
 // Filter the mail from sender and archive them(skip the inbox) 
  
 Filter 
  
 filter 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Filter 
 () 
  
 . 
 setCriteria 
 ( 
 new 
  
 FilterCriteria 
 () 
  
 . 
 setFrom 
 ( 
 "gduser2@workspacesamples.dev" 
 )) 
  
 . 
 setAction 
 ( 
 new 
  
 FilterAction 
 () 
  
 . 
 setAddLabelIds 
 ( 
 Arrays 
 . 
 asList 
 ( 
 labelId 
 )) 
  
 . 
 setRemoveLabelIds 
 ( 
 Arrays 
 . 
 asList 
 ( 
 "INBOX" 
 ))); 
  
 Filter 
  
 result 
  
 = 
  
 service 
 . 
 users 
 (). 
 settings 
 (). 
 filters 
 (). 
 create 
 ( 
 "me" 
 , 
  
 filter 
 ). 
 execute 
 (); 
  
 // Prints the new created filter ID 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Created filter " 
  
 + 
  
 result 
 . 
 getId 
 ()); 
  
 return 
  
 result 
 . 
 getId 
 (); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 GoogleJsonResponseException 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 GoogleJsonError 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 (); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 . 
 getCode 
 () 
  
 == 
  
 403 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 err 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Unable to create filter: " 
  
 + 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 ()); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 null 
 ; 
  
 } 
 }

Python

gmail/snippet/settings snippets/create_filter.py